Radio XETF Veracruz

By Carl Huffaker

The following item is taken from page 72 of the book Carl Huffaker's Latin Notebooks as originally published by SPEEDX. This book is a collection of Carl's columns in the SPEEDX magazine between 1986 and 1991. It is placed here with permission of SPEEDX.

JULY 1991

XEFT had been silent on 9545 kHz since a short period of activity in late April, so once again I headed down the mountain toward tropical Vcracruz. It's always a pleasant trip; Tajin is becoming daily more impressive as the archaeologists continue their work, and coffee in La Parroquia, Veracruz's old Spanish cafe, is indescribably out of this world, as is the seafood in innumerable restaurants in the old port.

The station itself is somewhat hidden. The QTH, Bravo 1103, is correct, but the number, and even the door-way, is hidden behind the sidewalk stalls, for that block at the end of Bravo is part of the old market. Finally, I found the entrance and climbed two long flights of stairs that led through the building to the station. It occupies the entire floor: A large entrance hallway, two offices, an unusually spacious transmitter room, and a somewhat larger-than-usual studio/cabana.

It's no credit to our north-of-the-bordcr DXers, but there were no reports for the brief period in which they'd reactivated 31 meters. I handed them a conspicuously labeled cassette of their April 21st broadcast. The people of Veracruz are characteristically a friendly bunch, and this was their first report from outside. I felt like one of the family.

The station has a long history. The mediumwave transmitter was built in 1934 by Jose Rodriguez Lopez, the owner-operator of the station. It's there in the transmitter room operating on 1250 kHz, a six-foot-high rack and panel job with a window in the center where you can watch the filament for overheating. On one side is the shortwave transmitter which he built in 1936. It's also a rack and panel, the same size, plywood and dotted with round Triplet meters. It reminds me of the 160-meter phone rigs of the 1930's. The third rack is the "new" commercially-built mediumwave transmitter. When it was installed, they discovered that it didn't work as well as the old one, so it's been on standby for well over a decade.

Jose's son, Juan de Dios Rodriguez Diaz, currently operates the station and holds the post of Director General. His son, Miguel Rodriguez Saez, is Subdirector and manages the hour-long, three times daily newscasts.

After a long silence, they'd reactivated the shortwave transmitter, and a few days later, an overvoltage took the regulators out. It was being repaired and would return to the air around the end of June. (Editor's note: XEFT was back on the air ahead of schedule.) Both stations will carry the same programs (the same audio feed), and will be on the air from 11:30 to 06:00 UTC daily. Reports should go to:

The station uses two slogans, "La Voz de Veracruz" and "La Jarocha." "Jarocha" is slang for a native of Veracruz. The late-night program, 03:00 - 06:00 UTC, is named "Tropi-salsa 12-50," and uses that ID.

This website is maintained by Don Moore,Association of North American Radio Clubs
DXer of the Year for 1995.